Working with kids, being able to go with the flow and adapt to any situation is essential.
 One of my greatest teachers is a boy named Joel Henry.  Joel is a seven year old boy diagnosed with Autism who enjoys Super Mario Brothers and computer time.  During class, my other students were working, Joel has a tendency to refuse to do work.  He would walk around and said that he does not want to do any work and would walk around the classroom. With my behavioral therapy experience, I wanted him to comply to me so I  offered incentives for doing work.  I asked if he wanted to have computer time or color a coloring book with Mario and Luigi.  He complied and said he wanted to color, so then I told him that he needs to get some work done.  He continued to walk around and refused to do work, so then I asked if he wants to wear the Mario hat that I purchased for him and in return, he jumped up with excitement.  I told him, "Let's work for it." He refused so I told him in my harsh voice that he will not get computer time when we go to the computer lab. The bell rang, it was time for computer time, so my kids lined up. To follow through with Joel, I took his work with us.  When we were at the computer lab, he decided to go under neath the table so I went under the table sat next to him.  I then asked him if he wants to color Mario, he finally complied and did his work.  

Today, as I was gassing up at the Chevron station, I went down memory lane.  At the time, I was gassing at the Chevron station when I saw two Korean women about 70-80 years old with limited English seemed lost so I offered take them to their destination somewhere in K-town.  

Achievement

Growing up from a Chinese family, striving for achievement was embedded in me ever since I was conceived, it was a sense of accomplishment and relief knowing that I am victorious against my brothers, all 100 million of them.  Competing against 100 million was a daunting task, I was glad I did not have to go through that again.

Or so I thought.
When I was apartment shopping, I wanted to live closer to work.  I looked at apartments around Culver City and they were too expensive especially for a first year teacher.  I decided to look toward the ghetto.  When I came across an apartment in Hawthorne, I fell in love with the 800 square foot space.  With out any hesitation, I gave a deposit for the apartment.  I was proud to say living in my own space, going by my rules, and knowing that I can be independent was one of my greater achievements. Up until then, I lived  at home.  The journey I needed to embark was living in the ghettos. A strip club around the corner, barbed windows everywhere, and hearing the sounds of gun shots firing and people moaning was a life-changing experience.  Over the course of the time I spent living in my apartment, I began transforming into a man who exuded confidence, a man who was radiating with light, above all, a man who puts one pant leg at a time.